The Uganda police is still seeking guidance from their legal team on whether it should also pursue investigations into the theft of 1,300 kilograms of ivory from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) stores.
President Yoweri Museveni ordered the IGG to investigate the loss of ivory worth billions of shillings from the UWA stores and immediately the Inspectorate General of Government (IGG) had already started on the investigations.
The Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Directorate (CIID) officials told media said two parallel investigations would cause confusion and affect findings.
The Police spokesman, Commissioner Fred Enanga, says the officials from the ministry of tourism have been in touch with the CIID but informally.
Catherine Ageno reports that some of the whistle-blowers are asking the case be shifted to CIID claiming that the IGG has no teeth to successfully deal with the culprits.
Commissioner Enanga confirmed some officials have contacted police to take over the case from IGG.
“The CIID has received suggestions you talked about from a couple of people. We are looking into them and we shall be guided on what to do,” he said.
Last week, news broke in local media about how 1,335 kilogrammes of ivory mysteriously disappeared from UWA’s vaults. The wildlife body acknowledged the disappearance of ivory and the President promptly ordered an investigation into the matter.
The authority subsequently suspended five top officials, including the chief ranger, officers with access to the vaults and intelligence personnel at the agency.